3 new buildings planned

Tiffany Williams

Published 6:00 pm, Sunday, March 5, 2006

As the first tenants in the new office building 21 Waterway Avenue, Homeyer, senior vice president and regional manager for commercial banking, and 45 Wells Fargo employees are enjoying their new space in The Woodlands after recently relocating from Greenspoint.

"The Woodlands provides a great quality of life. We have everything in one place," said Homeyer, noting the abundance of shopping and dining opportunities.

There are 42 restaurants in Town Center alone.

He said the growing business climate is a premier place for his Wells Fargo branch, and he predicts the area will become the hub for the North Houston business community. Recent trends support his forecast.

This year, 36,000 square feet of commercial space will be available with the construction of several high-profile buildings in Town Center, including 21 Waterway Avenue, 25 Waterway Avenue, 1599 Lake Robbins Drive and 1701 Lake Robbins Drive.

"What makes The Woodlands attractive is that the development is planned and cohesive," said Dennis Conine, principal of Conine & Robinson, the company that represents commercial real estate for The Woodlands Development Company.

He said alternative housing options such as luxury apartments, town homes and condos make The Woodlands appealing as well.

Class "A" vacancies in The Woodlands are less than 1 percent, Conine said.

In The Woodlands, the average rent for Class "A" office space is $27 per square foot, Conine said.

The number soars above other commercial real estate options in the Houston area, according to a study by Colliers International Principal Greg Cizik. Cizik presented the study during the South Montgomery Woodlands Chamber of Commerce's Economic Outlook Conference.

In West Chase, commercial real estate costs about $22 per square foot, $23 near the Katy Freeway, $19 near the Galleria and $21 in Clear Lake.

Cizik also said officials in Sugar Land, whose current Class "A" building rate is about $21, have been watching The Woodlands Development Company and taking notes.

"They've taken a page out of The Woodlands, and they freely admit it," said Cizik, adding The Woodlands Development Company shows no signs of slowing down commercial construction.

"That is why you see The Woodlands Development Company building like they are," he said. "They know they will fill it out."

Hurricane Katrina might have chewed up vacancies in The Woodlands, but Cizik said the real cause for the spike is more permanent because most of those who came from the hurricane-devastated region eventually will move back.

"You could have moved the entire city of New Orleans down here, and it wouldn't have made that big of an impact," said Cizik, citing renewals, relocations and expansions as the real reason commercial real estate has exploded in The Woodlands.

Fox Network will add 500 new jobs to the area in 2006 after purchasing land for a 206,000-square-foot Fox Sports studio, which will be active in September.

The new businesses, as well as expansions of current ones, continue to make The Woodlands a thriving community, said Ron Bourbeau, CEO of the South Montgomery County Woodlands Economic Development Partnership.

"It takes salaries and businesses to drive the economy," he said. "It increases the tax base that helps support the growth that is necessary to accommodate our population."

Some businesses in The Woodlands, including Lexicon Genetics, Hewitt Associates and Anadarko Petroleum, account for more than 700 jobs in South Montgomery County, according to the EDP.

Bourbeau said the quality of life in The Woodlands is what keeps bringing businesses into the area.

"We like to think the quality-of-life issues make it easy for people to recruit the talent they need to run a business," said Bourbeau, adding the geographic location also is appealing to business owners. "This part of the country is central, so they can get to either coast without taking the whole day."